Cheapest Places in the UK to Buy 3 Bedroom Houses (2017)

Amanda has worked in estate agency in the South-East of England for a number of years, in both residential and commercial property sales.

Source

Cheapest Places in the UK to Buy a 3-Bedroom House

Grimsby, Lincolnshire

Stanley, County Durham

Rhondda, Glamorgan

Liverpool

Stoke-on-Trent

Leeds, West Yorkshire

Newcastle-Upon-Tyne

Belfast and Antrim

Hull

Sheffield, South Yorkshire

Birmingham

Swansea, South Wales

Dumfries

Peterborough

Chatham

The True North-South Divide

For us Brits, 2017 has already been a political rollercoaster. Since holding a once in a generation referendum on our membership of the EU in 2016, we have lost one Prime Minister, and gained another, and had a complete change of leadership in all the top political jobs. A snap general election in June 2017 yielded unexpected results, and our current Prime Minister, Teresa May is heading into the Brexit negotiations without the political backing she had been hoping for. The nation is in a pretty pickle without a doubt.

Quite aside from these potentially life-changing news stories, there has also been a fairly unrecorded, yet potentially devastating home-grown crisis in the housing market bubbling away on the back-boiler. Simply put, the dramatic leap in house prices over the last two to three years portends the kind of boom and bust that Gordon Brown once so famously promised to put an end to. With the stratospheric rise of the buy-to-let market coupled with a dramatic fall in the number of houses coming on to the market, it’s hardly surprising. Now with concerns over Brexit added in to the mix, home owners in the UK's property hotspots are facing an uncertain future.

In the run up to last year's referendum, the then Chancellor, George Osborne, advised voters that a Leave result would put a serious dent in UK house prices. However, prices were already stalling in some of the areas below, even before Brexit was in the bag. It will be interesting to see what Philip Hammond, our new Chancellor of the Exchequor will do to address these issues. 2017 is likely to be a turbulent year in many respects, and property values are already being affected.

Stamp Duty Land Tax has had a big part to play in the general stickiness of the housing market in the South-East. Unless you have a very good reason to move, or an overwhelming desire to give the Treasury a huge chunk of your savings, there really isn't any incentive to re-locate on a regular basis. Once upon a time, people in the UK would move on a whim. These days you need to be either desperate, reasonably wealthy or heading for one of the UK's cheaper regions.

Yes folks, it's true. Here in the London commuter belt, we pay extortionate prices for quite average homes, and then pay taxes on top for the privilege. Elsewhere in the UK, property prices are nowhere near as high, and as a result, there are huge numbers of home owners living in Britain who need never pay a penny to the government in Stamp Duty. For properties priced between £125,001 and £250,000, the duty is levied at just 1%. Beneath that price the duty doesn't exist.

For average working families living in popular parts of central Sussex, the Surrey heartlands, Oxfordshire, Berkshire, and the London suburbs, property ownership comes at a very high price indeed, It could also be argued that ordinary working people buying in some of the areas listed below could well afford to pay stamp duty on their very reasonably priced homes to relieve the pressure on more expensive areas. However, in the meanwhile at least, they come unburdened by this unfairest of taxes.

For those whose jobs are more mobile, there is a whole wealth of property readily available in cheaper areas of the UK. Here are fourteen places you might wish to consider in your search for an affordable three-bedroom house. All prices given were found on the Rightmove web-site, and are current for 2017..

Only interested in property in specific counties?

If you are reading this article secretly hoping to find property in a specific location in the UK, you may prefer to look at county by county house price reviews. Click on the author link in the top right hand corner of this article, then scroll to the end and click again when you see 'view my profile on Hubpages'. to see all available counties. At present these include Berkshire, Cambridgeshire, Cornwall, Derbyshire, Devon, Essex, Hampshire, Kent, Norfolk, Oxfordshire, South Yorkshire,Sussex, Suffolk and Surrey. There are more in the process of being written, so do check back again if you can't see what you're looking for.

1. Grimsby

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Grimsby is a major sea port on England's East coast, lying on the South Bank of the Humber Estuary close to where it meets the North Sea.

The Grimsby–Cleethorpes conurbation provides the cultural and industrial focal point for a large area of northern and eastern Lincolnshire. Despite its glum sounding name, Grimsby is a busy, vibrant town with a lively pub and club scene, a comprehensive shopping centre, and excellent transport links, including a small airport. However, the loss of the major part of its fishing industry in the 1990s and early noughties, left a massive legacy of unemployment which effectively depressed property prices in the town. Although job prospects are better than they were, it is still perfectly possible to buy a small, three bedroom house in Grimsby from around £40,000, with DIY projects and tenanted buy-to-let properties coming in at considerably less.

2. Stanley, County Durham

Stanley is a former coal-mining town in County Durham. One of the worst pit disasters in British history took place in Stanley in February 1909 when over 160 people were killed in a local coal mine.

There has been some serious investment in the town in recent times, including improved leisure facilities, a new swimming pool, and a solar-powered bus interchange. More improvements, such as a new health centre and a Sure Start children's centre, are planned, and Stanley already has a well-regarded performance venue, the Lamplight Arts Centre, which hosts events as diverse as boxing matches, comedy shows, and music gigs.The town has a good sprinkling of supermarkets, and there is a twice weekly market, held on Thursdays and Saturdays.

With the closure of the coal pits, and the loss of other major employers in the area, Stanley has been on hard times economically for much of the last twenty years, and local house prices reflect this. A basic three-bedroom terraced house can be bought here for around £50,000 (August 2017).

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3. Rhondda, Glamorgan

River Rhondda at Gelli, Rhondda | Source

In the Welsh Rhondda Valley, an area of outstanding charm and natural beauty, a three-bedroom terraced home can be purchased for around £40,000. My search revealed several houses in Tonypandy and Maerdy, Ferndale, for around £45,000, and there were a number of others, all advertised as being in good order, in the £45,000 to £55,000 price range. There are also numerous properties up for auction, some listed with start prices in the £20,000s. Some of the locations listed in this price bracket are Treherbert, Tonypandy, Maesteg and Port Talbot. This region has shown a steady rise in prices over the five years since I first compiled this list, although it still represents exceptional value compared to other parts of the UK

The Rhondda Valley was once famed for its many coal mines, but the closure of many local pits in the 1990s left a legacy of high unemployment. The plethora of low-priced homes for sale in this region is a reflection of the pain that these communities continue to feel. Served by the Taff Vale railway line, Tonypandy is the principle town of the Rhondda Valley, and has the greatest employment opportunities.

4. Liverpool

Royal Liver Building, Liverpool | Source

Lively Liverpool, with all its musical and artistic heritage, birthplace of The Beatles and Cilla Black, has a generous supply of reasonably-priced three-bedroom terraced houses. The lowest-priced examples I came across in this area are being offered at around £45,000, and there are a number of attractive, basic properties available in the Liverpool, Netherton and Bootle areas in the £50,000 to £60,000 price bracket. Shared ownership schemes seem to be popular in this region, and many reasonably priced brand-new homes come to the market offering 25% to 75% shared ownership.

In recent years, Liverpool has been transformed by an ambitious and far-reaching regeneration programme, and is now considered to be one of Britain's leading centres for culture and business. Although the generous supply of cheap housing seems to tell a different story, it may just be that the house prices are only temporarily lagging behind the bigger picture. Certainly, here as in other areas I've investigated, there has been a significant rise in house prices at the lower end of the scale, as buy-to-letters seek out fresh territories, and first-time-buyer schemes help more people onto the property ladder.

5. Stoke-on-Trent

Trent & Mersey Canal, Stoke-on-Trent | Source

Stoke-on-Trent is well known for the numerous potteries that grew up in and around the town from the 17th century onwards. Wedgwood, Minton and Royal Doulton are among the more famous china manufacturers from this area, and the potteries, together with abundant local supplies of coal and iron, ensured the prosperity of the region for several centuries. More recently, however, with pit closures and the loss of numerous factories and steelworks, there has been a sharp rise in unemployment. Nowadays, local tourism opportunities are beginning to be exploited, and both the china works and the canal system draw their fair share of visitors to the region each year.

A three-bedroom terraced house in the Potteries area, in towns such as Stoke-on-Trent and Newcastle-Under-Lyme, can be bought for as little as £55,000 to £65,000. A semi-detached home, in good order, sells for around £70,000. Prices in this region have climbed steeply in the last two years, although there seems to have been a levelling off in more recent months.

6. Leeds, West Yorkshire

Calder Canal, Wakefield | Source

According to the 2011 census, Leeds is the third largest city, by population, in the UK. One of the biggest success stories of the Industrial Revolution, Leeds was once the thriving hub of a vast network of wool and linen mills. In more recent years, Leeds continues to enjoy a reputation as the cultural, financial and commercial heart of West Yorkshire.

My search revealed properties in the Bramley and Harehills areas readily available in the £70,000 to £80,000 price bracket. The low-end prices are a little higher in nearby Wakefield and Pontefract, but all show listings for comfortable, habitable properties around £85,000.

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7. Newcastle-upon-Tyne

The Tyne Bridge | Source

Newcastle-Upon-Tyne

My search on Rightmove this August (2017) turned up a couple of three-bedroom properties priced at or below £60,000 in the Newcastle-upon Tyne area. Three-bedroom houses priced at between £65,000 and £75,000 are plentiful in the Newcastle-upon-Tyne area of Tyne & Wear, particularly in Blyth and Jarrow. Smart, modern semi-detached houses can be bought in this region from around £90,000. At the other end of the scale, in more favoured areas such as Fenham and Westerhope, spacious, attractive, detached and semi-detached homes are freely available at well under £210,000.

The port developed in the 16th century and, along with the shipyards lower down the river Tyne, became one of the world's largest ship-building and ship-repairing centres. These industries have since gone into decline, and today, Newcastle-upon-Tyne is largely a business and cultural centre, with a lively nightlife, and excellent shopping facilities.

8. Belfast and Antrim

Belfast Wheel, City Hall, Belfast | Source

Famous for being home to the shipyard that built the Titanic, beautiful Belfast has seen more than its fair share of problems over the years. The continuing sectarian conflict that has divided communities in this city is in sharp contrast, however, to the warm welcome that visitors receive here. Belfast has a vibrant and thriving city centre with great leisure facilities, historic sites to visit, fabulous shopping streets and excellent transport links. A comfortable three-bedroomed home in this lively, heritage city could be yours from as little as £65,000. Please also bear in mind, when searching for property in Northern Ireland, that RightMove may not have the same coverage in this area as it does in mainland UK, and you will do better by searching on some of the sites specific to Northern Ireland. A good place to start is the Daft.ie website.

9. Hull

The Old Yorkshire Penny Bank building, Hull. | Source

Historic Kingston-Upon-Hull, better known as just plain “Hull,” has poetic and theatrical links as well as a fascinating maritime past. Recent investment in urban regeneration has brought about much improvement in poorer areas in and around the city, but the property prices remain some of the UK's lowest. I found a number of three-bedroomed terraced houses advertised for sale priced at around £57,000, all within a ten-mile radius of Hull City Centre. Homes in the £65,000 to £75,000 price range are readily available. If you have a little more to spend, £249,500 will buy you a spacious detached house with good-sized gardens, in one of the better areas. and you could still avoid the Chancellor's 3% stamp duty bracket. As for similar locations on this list, the prices in this area have remained stable in recent months.

10. Sheffield, South Yorkshire

Pinstone Row, Sheffield | Source

Industrious Sheffield, famous for its cutlers, and surrounded by some of Britain's most ruggedly beautiful countryside, is a city that has seen tough times in recent years. Like many of the areas listed in this article, Sheffield has seen employment prospects wax and wane, but it still remains a vibrant university city, with many galleries and museums to browse, and great sporting and leisure facilities. Three-bedroomed terraced houses can be bought for as little as £55,000, and there are a number available in the £60,000 to £70,000 price bracket both in Sheffield and in the surrounding towns and villages, especially in neighbouring Derbyshire. For other South Yorkshire towns,please follow this link.

11. Birmingham

Bullring and St Martin's Church, Birmingham | Source

Birmingham, in the West Midlands county of England, is the UK's second most populous city after London. Once at the forefront of the industrial revolution, Birmingham remains a major international commercial centre. It is home to no less than three universities, and is also the site of Britain's National Exhibition Centre. Despite its sprawling urban environment, Birmingham enjoys over 8,000 acres of parkland within its boundaries and has a fascinating and picturesque network of canals and waterways running through the city.

Three-bedroom houses in the Birmingham districts of Smethwick and Oldbury begin at between £95,000 and £105,000 (August 2017).

12. Swansea, South Wales

Swansea Castle | Source

Swansea and Port Talbot can trace their roots back to the Stone Age. The Romans and the Vikings put their mark on these ancient settlements, and the people of these towns have been seafarers, ship-builders, merchants, and coal-miners. Situated on the edge of the beautiful Gower Peninsula, this part of Wales has much to recommend it, not least its property prices. Three-bedroom terraced homes can be bought for as little as £70,000.

13. Dumfries

Boats at the Quay, Dumfries | Source

House prices in Scotland vary greatly from area to area, and prices in some of the big cities such as Edinburgh and Glasgow are just as high, if not higher, than their southern equivalents. Dumfries, however, has a range of budget-priced homes available, and in August 2017 RightMove was listing several three-bedroom houses with guide prices (offering prices) from £50,000 to £65,000 for sale in this area.

14. Peterborough

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Peterborough

Almost uniquely amongst the towns within reasonable commuting distance of London, Peterborough actually has 3 bedroom houses for sale from around £125,000.(August 2017) Yes, it's true, the cathedral city of Peterborough in lovely Cambridgeshire, is less than one hour away from London's King's Cross station by rail, and yet has somehow escaped the worst effects of the London ripple effect.

Peterborough is a modern city which has grown up around an historic centre. The city has all the facilities you would expect in a large urban area, as well as picturesque countryside close at hand.

15. Chatham

Chatham Riverside with the Command House and St.Mary's Church in the background. | Source

Not quite the cheapest place to buy a house in Kent, but not too far off it! Incredibly for the South East, Chatham has quite a number of three-bedroom houses available to buy from around £150,000 (August 2017). Historic Chatham, famous for its dockyards, is on an easy train route into central London, making it an ideal location for commuters. If you are stuck in London, and are desperate to improve your accommodation in a more affordable location, then Chatham might be the place you are looking for. Back in 2014, three-bedroom houses in Chatham started at around £110,000. Prices have climbed steeply and fast in Chatham and the surrounding areas.

Comments

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Author

Amanda Severn 2 years agofrom UK

Thanks Olivia, that's great advice! Good luck with your house purchase!

Olivia Sanzzi 2 years agofrom San Antonio

I am an American who lived in London for a year, and in my opinion, your article is fascinating and exceptional. I am in the process of buying a house, and though the challenges at times feels unsurmountable, I now realize that it is nothing compared to the process for you in the UK. I thought that the issues were only true for London zones 1-4, but now I see that it is a far broader, farther-sweeping issue. Well good luck with all challenges you face, and please keep blogging even on days you do not feel like writing at all. Your posts are great.

Author

Amanda Severn 2 years agofrom UK

Hi Rising Start, the reason the responses have such a range is that the original article was written in 2011, and I have updated it annually, and more recently, every six months, in order to keep it current. After all, no one wants to know about 2011 prices, when they're actually hoping to buy this year!

rising star1 2 years ago

Nice article

First time reading a hub page

What I'm confused about Amanda is that some of the responses range from 2months which is fine to 2years ago ?

Yet the article is for 2015 ?

Pls help

Author

Amanda Severn 2 years agofrom UK

Thanks for stopping by and commenting Maggs224.

maggs224 2 years agofrom Sunny Spain

I have not lived in the UK for ten years so I was surprised that there are still homes for sale at such low prices. An interesting hub with some very interesting comments and answers too. I am glad that that your title hooked my interest. I am voting up and hitting the relevant buttons on my way out :D

Jacob Barnard 2 years agofrom Gloucestershire

Amanda Severn, No problem, thank you for replying! :) Yes that's true

Author

Amanda Severn 2 years agofrom UK

Thanks for stopping by and commenting Jacob9205. It's always worth checking out the towns around where you want to live. There can be huge variation even within a single county.

Author

Amanda Severn 2 years agofrom UK

Thanks for stopping by and commenting.

Jacob Barnard 2 years agofrom Gloucestershire

Very interesting! When I buy my own home I will check out these places, thank you! :)

Kept private 2 years agofrom Northeast United States

Interesting ! :) Even though I live in the U.S. it is interesting to learn about different real Estate. Thank you for sharing ! :)

Author

Amanda Severn 2 years agofrom UK

How amazing to be able to buy your perfect home for such a small amount! Here in the South-East property prices have reached ridiculous levels. Young couples hoping to get a foothold on the property ladder can do little more than dream in places like Brighton. Good luck in your new home - I hope you'll be very happy there!

Chantele Cross-Jones 2 years agofrom Cardiff

great round up! Love that some south wales places got in there too!! I live in Neath (between Swansea and Port Talbot) and we just bought a stunning 2 bed semi with a huge Garden for £128,000. We moved from Cardiff because £128,000 would barely get you a tiny 1 bed flat there! House prices really are getting silly all over the UK. My parents have an amazing 4 bed detached house they bought 30 years ago and it cost less than £60,000, now its worth closer to £225,000

Author

Amanda Severn 2 years agofrom UK

Thanks for stopping by and commenting Louise. The range of prices over comparatively short distances is genuinely astounding. Good luck in your new home. I hope it goes well for you.

Louise0711 2 years ago

Very interesting. Just buying a 3 bedroom terraced house in Bromsgrove (between Worcester and Birmingham). We moved from London as it was impossible for us to buy there and you get so much more space for your money out of the captial.

Author

Amanda Severn 2 years agofrom UK

Thanks for your comment Hezekiah. Property prices vary widely across the UK, but I have concentrated on the cheapest examples here. However, if you are searching in central London, or in other property hotspots such as Brighton, you might find prices that compete with Japan!

Hezekiah 2 years agofrom Japan

Thank for the article. I was born in the UK and moved to Japan and bought property here. So expensive compared to the size and price of the UK.

Author

Amanda Severn 3 years agofrom UK

Hi Poppy, I guess my dozen turned into a baker's dozen! I intend to add two more over the next day or so, and then I will change the title number to 15. Thanks for stopping by and commenting, and yes, it took a ton of research!

Poppy Reid 3 years agofrom Tokyo, Japan

Great article. I bet it took a lot of research and hard work. Not that it really matters, but in your title you've said 12 of the cheapest places, but in the article you included 13 :) keep up the great work.

Author

Amanda Severn 4 years agofrom UK

Hi Appsthatpayyou. London is even worse than Sussex! Thanks for stopping by and commenting.

Author

Amanda Severn 4 years agofrom UK

Hi DaffodilSky, I originally wrote this article three years ago, and the prices were around £10,000 lower at the very bottom end. That kind of inflation tells me that either the buy-to-letters have moved in to the market in huge numbers, or else people are waking up to the fact that it is better to buy than to rent in such cheap areas. Sadly I suspect that it's the former rather than the latter. The added problem with the rampant house price inflation in these areas is that it is added in to the national statistics, and creates a false overall picture. Here in the south-east prices are stagnant at best, but in most cases actively falling. The government needs to re-think it's policies big time or they risk a ticking time-bomb where the amount of people with rent subsidies can only grow as people retire.

Helen Lush 4 years agofrom Cardiff, Wales, UK

Hi Amanda - interesting hub. I live in Cardiff not far from the Rhondda in South Wales. Houses there are very cheap but some clever people are buying there because it is within commuter distance of Cardiff, which as our capital, is not cheap! The Rhondda area is extremely beautiful but still recovering from the loss of it's coal mining industry - this is all very topical at the moment with all the talk around the legacy of our ex PM Margaret Thatcher. I do take issue with molometer's comment about the North being grim - I'm from the north east of England originally and much of it is stunningly beautiful! I'm going on a bit now so I'll stop !:)

Author

Amanda Severn 5 years agofrom UK

Hi Barb, I'm glad you enjoyed the opening ceremony. It was totally bonkers, but very moving at the same time. I also enjoyed Kenneth Branagh, and I loved hearing Mike Oldfield too. I once saw him perform live at Knebworth in the early 1980s and I'm glad to see he's still going strong!

You mention the ferris wheel, and I think you must mean the London Eye which stands on the banks of the River Thames, quite close to the Tate Modern Art Gallery. It's been there for a few years now, and it's a very, very big wheel which offers excellent views all over London.

Barbara 5 years agofrom Stepping past clutter

Amanda, after watching the men cycle past lovely villages and into London this morning (sorry your Brits did not win) I may wish to buy a home in England, lol. It was so so beautiful.

And I loved the Opening Ceremony. Geek as I am, my favorite part was the Tempest Recitation by Kenneth Branagh. Though there were numerous highlights and I found the entire experience very deep and meaningful. McCartney choking up... what a rare occasion it was.

What is the story on that ferris wheel? The one that I keep seeing on television- is this the one in Belfast? It's capsules are very futuristic.

SO glad the ceremonies went off without a glitch. I am reading a book called "My Sister is on the Mantle" that was shortlisted for your Carnegie Medal. It is most provocative and tells a sad story, that I hope was one day long ago, not to be repeated. Ever. Anywhere. Hugs.

Author

Amanda Severn 5 years agofrom UK

Hi Monicamelendez, thank you for stopping by and commenting. I'm not a fan of stamp duty either. It has effectively put a stranglehold on housing mobility here in the South-East of England.

monicamelendez 5 years agofrom Salt Lake City

Wow I'm not a fan of the Stamp Duty Land Tax...I had no idea that this tax existed in the UK.

Author

Amanda Severn 5 years agofrom UK

Thank you for stopping by and commenting Didge.

Didge 5 years agofrom Southern England

Wonderful hub Amanda Severn and a good addition to Hubpages! Thanks for sharing!

Author

Amanda Severn 5 years agofrom UK

Hi Plussizepixie, this was originally written a year ago, and there were certainly properties in that price bracket then. I recently updated this to reflect current prices. I thought I'd double checked all of these, but I obviously missed that one! Thanks for bringing it to my attention. Cheers, Amanda

plussizepixie 5 years ago

Hia Amanda I live in Barnsley & have a number of BTL properties here. I would love to know where the under £45,000 3 bed properties can be found as I can't find any!

Author

Amanda Severn 5 years agofrom UK

You're right Molometer. There are plenty of empty houses on the market, but if they are too pricey for people, then new homes will be too. I have lots of ideas about how to cure the housing shortage, and most of them revolve around restoring MIRAS for first time buyers, and enforcing rent caps to discourage amateur buy-to-letters thus reducing the burden on local councils who often have to pay extraordinary and extortionate rents for social housing out of the public purse.

I would also like to see second home owners actively discouraged so that hotspots such as Devon and Cornwall see lower prices, thus allowing local people the opportunity to buy homes in their own villages.

molometer 5 years ago

Hi Amanda, sorry about the delay in getting back to you but for some reason my notifications are off.(my fault)

I am in a very desirable part of Cambridgeshire just north of Cambridge in one of the small villages.

Very chocolate box and thatched cottages, very picturesque. (average price half a million,detached}

House prices here and in the surrounding areas are tumbling (for smaller 2/3 bed houses)and it's those that are not selling.

First time buyers are completely priced out in this area anyway and the owners are not unwilling to drop their prices either so consequently nothing is moving at all. Eventually of course it will implode if the redundancies continue as they are at the moment. It's a mess and no mistake and now the government are talking about building loads of new houses. That was the final nail in the coffin that is the housing market! With over 1 million empty houses on the market already we just don't need any more?

Hi Molometer, I wrote this in July, and, although the property market continues to be very 'sticky' here in Sussex, we're not seeing the huge falls that need to happen to bring prices in line with earnings. I see from your profile that you are in Cambridgeshire, which is possibly a little less pricey overall than here on the coast. Is property getting cheaper where you live?

molometer 5 years ago

Amanda you are being very polite, be honest nobody wants to move up North because it's so grim up there. I like your article and it is true you can but an absolute Mansion in Norfolk for 200k but it will be in the middle of nowhere and take hours to get to. 3 L's as you say dominate. Great hub well done. When did you write this as prices are plummeting still now in September 2011?

Author

Amanda Severn 6 years agofrom UK

Hi Bob, it's good to see you here, as always. It is incredible, as you say, that our house prices continue to remain high here in the South. Partly it's caused by supply and demand, but stamp duty is definitely a factor. People who would like to move up the ladder are holding back because of the high rate of stamp duty being levied on ordinary family homes. I know this for a fact because it's the exact position I am in! To make a jump to a property just £10k dearer we would have to fork out £8,400 to the government for the privelege! This situation has increased the stickiness of the market. Fewer people are moving, and this is affecting the pool of available properties.

diogenes 6 years agofrom UK and Mexico

Hi Amanda: I nipped over to see how you were doing, for some reason, I am not being notified of your hubs Mmmm. I used to watch that bargain property auction program a couple of years back, and the cheap houses and flats were mostly well run down or tiny. Property in desirable places in the UK are still hugely inflated and will remain so while there are still lots of people waiting to buy them. We are unique in Britain, I think, for being permanently hovering around recession yet with our house prices in the South still rising! Our immigration I guess. Hope you are well in sunny (Ha) Brighton Bob

Author

Amanda Severn 6 years agofrom UK

Hi attemptedhumour, I just looked up Stourbridge on Rightmove, and 3 bedroomed homes start around £90,000 in Stourbridge itself. National Statistics On-line quotes a figure of approx £28,000 p.a. as average earnings for a UK male. Working on this figure, Stourbridge is not too far away from the three and a half times ratio that you mention in your comment. In Brighton (a little along the coast from me) the cheapest three bedroomed houses start at around £180,000, and they are few and far between at the low-end of the price range. I guess my gripe is not about the cost of the housing (although that's painful enough). It's more about the fact that Stamp Duty is levied according to price rather than according to accomodation.

It's good to see you here again BTW!

attemptedhumour 6 years agofrom Australia

Hi Amanda, having come from sunny Stourbridge in England's West Midlands i am surprised to hear that houses can be bought at such a low price. I presume that there is a low demand, or low employment prospects to service the loan needed to purchase these. House prices in Melbourne have risen sharply in recent years and are getting out of reach for first home buyers. The average price for a three bedroom house in our suburb would be about eight hundred thousand dollars sixteen times more than the average annual income. Perhaps you could research these statics for your area and see how they compare. In the sixties house prices were about three and a half times the average yearly wage. So forget about emigrating, unless you have won the pools first. Cheers

Author

Amanda Severn 6 years agofrom UK

Hi Les Trois Chenes

Limousin does sound very tempting, escpecially as I love the French countryside. We're not all as brave as you, however! As to the cheaper regions of the UK, I would sooner live in the Derby dales or the beautiful valleys of Wales than in many of the property hotspots here in the South. For couples who are in jobs that are paid on national wage scales such as teaching and medicine, a life in one of these more affordable areas would have a lot to recommend it. For young couples starting out here in the South, the future must seem quite bleak. In my area the cheapest one bedroom flats start at around £100,000.

Author

Amanda Severn 6 years agofrom UK

Hi Sophia, maybe it's different in the States, but here some whole regions of the country (including beautiful homes in lovely middle class areas) are genuinely much cheaper than others. When I was researching this hub, my daughter and I oohed and aahed over some fabulous houses in the North of England which would cost no more than the price of our 3-bed terraced house here in the South. We don't wish to move North because our family and work are here in the South, but if we were in a different position it might be very tempting!

Les Trois Chenes 6 years agofrom Videix, Limousin, South West France

I don't know Stoke on Trent, but of all the other places mentioned here the only one I'd consider is Newcastle.

On the other hand, why don't you think of moving to Limousin (SW France)? For your little house you could buy a lovely home in town or country with gardens, land etc etc. Nice neighbours, no crime, no traffic, low insurance, no graffiti, no drugs, gorgeous countryside, clean air, fresh food, grow your own veg, keep chickens .... or live in the city near opera, theatre, cinemas etc I could go on but will spare you ... PS sunshine, food and wine. Tempting?

Sophia Angelique 6 years ago

Amanda, in fairness, I think we all know that cheap houses are available. The issue is not that there aren't cheap homes. The issue is that the places where the cheap homes are are a nightmare to live in.

And the places where there is no crime, and where facilities are acceptable to an ordinary middle class standard are priced to cripple one for life. In other words, it's almost a form of neo-feudalism emerging.

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Amanda Severn 6 years agofrom UK

Hi Spirit Whisperer,

As I just explained to Sophia, my hub isn't just intended to highlight the availability of cheap houses, so much as cheap areas. There is a large estate near to where I live which is considered less desirable than the part of town that I live in. I could have bought a cheaper property there, but chose not to for all the reasons that you mention. However, I would still have paid at least £230,000. The south-east is expensive whether you live in a good area or a not-so-good area, and in all the regions I mention above, the dearest properties are generally still much, much cheaper than a comparable house in Sussex, Surrey or Hampshire.

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Amanda Severn 6 years agofrom UK

Hi Sophia,

You're absolutely right about the weather. The South coast certainly enjoys a warmer climate than say Scotland, or the far North of England. I don't think the weather is the only reason for the difference in house prices however. Proximity to London has a major influence on property prices. The small town I live in is on a direct train route into central London, and is consequently slightly more expensive and sought after than some other small towns on the coastal stretch.

Of course some of the houses I'm talking about in this hub are in areas of social deprivation or low employment. That's often what makes them so cheap. The point is, however, that in those same areas there will be more expensive houses in pleasant, leafy lanes, with large gardens, garages and out-buildings, that will still cost only a fraction of what it costs to buy a small terraced house here in the south-east. So far as community goes, I'm sure poorer communities can be just as harmonious and pleasing to live in as richer ones. Often more so.

Thanks for stopping by Sophia. It's good to catch up with you again!

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Amanda Severn 6 years agofrom UK

Hi Paradise7, I'm sure there are some amazing property bargains to be picked up in America right now. It's all about location, location, location. The USA has the benefit of having plenty of space, so once you get out of the cities, even quite average homes can be sizeable. That's not so true in our over-crowded corner of the world!

Xavier Nathan 6 years agofrom Isle of Man

Would you live in a three bedroom house worth £30,000 in the areas listed above? Anyone can find cheap housing anywhere in the world but don't you get what you pay for? I think Sophie Angelique makes a fair point too in that would you like your children growing up in some of these areas?

I have lived in an area with cheap housing when we first started out and I am sorry we did. It was false economy and I am so glad I was able to create the means to get out when we did. I now live in Peel, on the west coast of the Isle of Man about 3 mins walk from the beach in an old 4 bedroom Victorian house that we bought for £180,000 about 8 years ago and I feel so lucky.

My advice to young couples starting out is to not compromise on your dream to live in the house and location that would be the most conducive for your physical, emotional and spiritual well being.

Sophia Angelique 6 years ago

Hi Amanda. Long time no speak. The problem is that the south east of England has warmer weather. The other problem is people and resources. If the home is really inexpensive, does one have neighbors that one might not like to have? And would the area have resources like libraries, ballroom dancing, and other things of personal interest.

Paradise7 6 years agofrom Upstate New York

Maybe I'll move to England. Houses in perfectly decent areas seem to be a lot more afordable than here.